Lessons

Lesson Info

Thinking in the Long-Term

I'm going to start with the quote that uh is called circumstances don't define me I define my circumstance and I made that quote I made that up so think about this we're going to be in charge everybody who is here now you're in charge you're the ceo of your company you're in charge everybody out there on the lifestream you're in charge now what happens from here on forward is on you circumstances are what they are we'll just deal with it and then we'll move on in this segment it's about sustainability is like when we build something because you know businesses going phases so there's the idea face there's a startup phase and then there's the face where the business actually is running and even when the business is running successfully you have to continue to tweak it to move it forward and to be successful at it then of course as she becomes successful, new brand becomes successful what are additional monetization ideas on howto bank on your name and we have a guest here michael greco ...

who will be talking about howto bank on your name and he is the master of it so he has a new exciting story to tell and I hope you'll learn from from his ideas some off you know that you can translate to some of your own ideas on what you can do with your business as you grow further out I must really like my own quotes very much so if you do it, you might as well do it the best you can otherwise why bother so clearly I'm not big on mediocre if I put it, if I put the money in if I put the time in it's better be good that's why I produced the products that I produced the way I do because ultimately I think that a quality product will produce equality result and I want you to have if the same mindset because clients will know and they sniff out if your fraud or if you're really so bea really put it in, it will come back to you. And, uh, by the way, just for reference lee the who you just met in the other segment lee actually responsible for those sew. She she makes sure I look as good as I say I do all right, let's, talk about seven secrets to success. I love this illustration to see this. So you see, you know, so they're down here is the diamonds. And so these people are digging this guy's screaming get me out! This guy over here is taking a nap this guy over here, I don't even know what the heck he's doing but he's clearly like a little obsessed with some some some over engineer a good good one and this guy is just really frugal with his little backpack and he keeps digging and he's off course the the one that's closest to the diamonds I talk about this also as a tonne tunnel analogy and because I'm from europe in europe, when you go and you drive, you know some of these beautiful mountain roads inevitably you'll come to the tunnel and it even says the name of the tunnel it says, how long the tunnel ists but then you drive into the tunnel and you go into the tunnel and very quickly in the light, you know, disappears and you're in the dark you already lost complete orientation officer is a closer this way. Is he closer that where you think about stuff goes down in tunnels, things happened? What if you you know what? If something happens, where would you get out? Would it be? I mean, it can get a little bit frightening, especially if you like me, don't like, you know, sort of small enclosed spaces, but you may have that light just around the next corner, so when you go into a tunnel, all you can trust is that their tunnel will end that's our that's, our thought when we go in reid's likes got end no matter how long it's going to end that's, the mind said that I want you to have no matter what tunnel you in right now, but that light, you know, it could be literally just around the corner and you heard it in my own personal story. In my darkest moment, my light was really just around the corner and so the darker and the deeper it is what do you say? It's always darkest just before dawn there's a reason why people say that sometimes we are in our defining moment really questioned how badly do you want it? And if you can talk about this with every sounding yes, I am committed then it's probably not that long away and with leave this is why abroad on, you know, people that I think you can relate to and that have really great compelling stories to tell we had, you know, we had a really tough time there for a couple years, even after all of this was done, she it looked like I was going to go and then something stopped and she had to overcome even mohr adversity and obstacles, and she came out of it. And when and now all of a sudden, you know, it's like on like somebody all of a sudden press the right button, and now things are really happening and the people that were we went we were going after people she was going after for years all of a sudden the right people show up and things are really happening and coming together so down give up be that person you know keep digging for your diamonds because you could be just that close secrets to success I like numbers seven secrets twelve steps so seven secrets are sells something people want or need I prefer if you figure out something that people want first you sell them what they want and then you go and what they need because that's how they going to get the success people come to me for finding clients and I'm going to help them to find clients but what I'm really doing him really teaching them how to run their business does it matter doesn't right the message is going to end up being the same so you can't you can't sell somebody something that they don't want even if they need it desperately you solve a problem how many times if we've been through this and you guys were so good about solving the problem? I mean you now bam you know exactly what problem you're solving do something you're passionate about because especially started we're going to put it ah lotta time, innit? You just d'oh it's a startup I mean it's everything so you better be passionate about it we're card have the staying power know when to stay correct or change the course and focus on generating cash and we're going to talk about this now because cash is king without cash nothing happens so the emphasis now we have the idea we've put the business plan together the accidental creative business plan we got it in writing we know what we want to do and now how we going toe organize this how are we going to structure this how we're going to move forward we're doing this by focusing on cash we talked about this when we were doing the how are you arriving at that number when we were workshopping up here with with gin with mayor I'm sorry and you saw on how we have to you know sort of what we need to do to get to that number so from all the things that you have available to you what other things that are going to bring you to the cash the fastest sometimes you have to compromise on, you know, really getting to that thousand dollar or their twenty five hundred dollars item and to sort of fun in bed between you know, between the two fifty or the two twenty five to the five hundred just to keep the cash flow going but as the demand rises you can increase your prices with rhymes uh the man drives is what did I just say increase prices very good thank you so you want to fei always focus? Teo focus on cash almost a little bit talked out, apologized they get becoming blurry now what is the most successful way to make money? How can you get to the money the fastest? Barbara ah e in what context e out there to do it as well. If you were to think about a couple of ideas, how could you generate money really quickly and right away? What would that be? Just let me know about about one thing and you look at what you've been selling before and what you've sold the most and then let's take that and see if we can manage finagle a maneuver that and change that or often additional service, perhaps a consulting, a coaching, another product and up sailed to something that you are we due at some more value increase the prices of what would that be? Anyone, any ideas had a general sense in this specific sense in a general specific sense, one by one of the things that I'm going to do and this was around my bodybuilding. I worked with a team of people, I had a trainer at a massage therapist and I had a natural path I'm so they all know what im about, I know what they're about, I know the type of clients that they work with, so I'm going to ask them for referrals um and so to me that's sort of the quickest way to start to generate cash is by on asking them for referrals I think that's a great idea to get started so it's about because you already have the relationship. So connie, thank you so much for saying that I think it's a wonderful starting point for all of you. So what existing relationships do you have that you can capitalize on? So do other salsa dancers have children? Not too many, but I know now that I've had a moment like I have another idea. Um, ah lot of the a lot of my clients now are coming to meet there they're either personal friends or people I know from my community or my my kid's school, and so I decided to run a mother's day contest recently try it out. I had never done a contest before, I knew there were people out there, you know, people say, oh, I'd let you know I'd like to have pictures of my kids or or I need a blinked in profile picture or something, you know, but the follow through sometimes wasn't happening, so I ran a mother's day contest to give away my lowest, um, price package, a thirty minute uh, session and all these people came out of the woodwork and I found I found where my community was, people got excited so I could get a picture taken by barbara and so um, you know, now I'm just gonna have to capitalize on on those people that I found in the in the mo mentum that I gained with the contest and I know now we talked about men and whether or not they want their pictures taken, so now I'm I'm thinking about it you can't go after the moms and say I'm sorry you didn't win the mother's day package, but how about you take advantage but because you entered I'm giving you a coupon or hard and at an actual extra thirty minutes and how about you are giving your husband the father off if the children a you know that the photo session that you had scheduled and I make it easy for you to say yes for a session that they can buy print from you to give her father for the father stay for the father's day? Yes, the picture of the kid, right? And yes, so yeah, it was really fun t experiment with that and to see the momentum it was I think my most light and shared post and I had liking and sharing of course as part of the part of the incentive and um and I got some email address out of it, so that was a successful yeah, I wouldn't meet adventure the father's day campaign and uh and and use that as a whole can say thank you so much venting the contest unfortunately, you know you didn't win but it's a thank you for participating I am sending you a coupon and it's valid for you know uh whatever fifty dollars off the father's day session a special session a family session because you know, what are the kids going to give daddy it kids love to give daddy a picture of himself excellent. Okay, good anyone else any any any strategy? Janice? Well, I'm giving a party and four hundred thirty people and I'm going to be doing the photography and so I thought I have all these emails and all these potential clients and what I thought just by everybody talking here about about coupons I'm thinking once they get there and they want to purchase a photograph then I could, um up sail by q t bugs are prime given beauty bucks fifty beauty books perfect thanks. You want butter on your blush? All right. Thank you. Yeah. Now beauty beauty books the dollars I do that in the photog business I actually when I get referrals I give them photo biz bucks and they are only applicable to my own products so when we start the selling after the boot camp they can take the you know the bucks that they earned by referring other people and apply them to one of my products and itjust helps the sails thank you. Okay, good. You're awfully quiet. Yeah um I'm I'm in the exploration of this right like what I see is the opportunity to offer pdf ce um I also off I see it as an email that I'll send out that will have a link to the purchase of the of the of the actual hard copy which is currently a veil for well available for sale on my website through blurb on then also the opportunity to join a community and also the opportunity to start a mentorship and an intentional living mentorship in the end within the next month or so okay think about the fastest way to the cash yeah I'm not certain if that's fast enough that's why I've been quiet yes good butt's good that you're thinking about getting any feedback from our audience luli cabe a says they have a great product that some of my customers air wanting tto learn how to make themselves so I believe I could develop a whole d I y line of products for them to learn my unique technique with very nice train the trainer almost type of thing okay, I love it yeah what is your take on train the trainer by the way that's come up in conversation with me lately okay good so trained the trainer to me is there's a point when you have to get to a certain level off off um celebrity status where you are being looked at as the authority on the subject and then when you know something that other people want to learn from you then you can do a train the trainer because and what it does it allows you to give additional of upsell opportunities now you can do your own certification program you can charge people an investment fee into you know into keeping the certification ongoing a membership fee on a yearly basis and even if it's only fifty dollars to keep that certification alive he had can't continue education by saying every everybody was in the program has to do ten hours of continuous education or one day workshop that's ah you know x amount of dollars or euros pounds so whatever that is so train the trainer is very desire was definitely one part of one of my future business models where I want to take you sort of how do you establish yourself you know as a trainer and the women's code because I have this idea ofthe building a community off women's called ambassadors so that the principles of the women's code and a lot of the principles we talked about here today you know we're in a support collaboration supporting other people if you get that certification now you can take the material off thes you know these proven methods and you can put him into your own trainings and then you can say your power to your program is powered by the women's coat so that's you know one of my great idea and that I perhaps it's where the intellectual property comes in and all of that that's absolutely right very, very cool and interesting what you're saying janice about going out party and how to you would use that social networking situation davina is a jewelry designer she's been asking other people in the chat room howto really embrace and the social networking get some products out there in the cold the same while she hosts jewelry parties she says that it's actually a very useful way that she's been generating cash she says her clients try on the piece peace is they have a little bit of refreshment they talk about where they might want to wear them and there's absolutely no pressure on buying this just a really fun good relaxing time but she does a lot of sails I love that you and there's actually a whole company that built a business model around that is, you know, going to your teo immediate network and asking them to help you and brainstorm with you certainly certainly always works or it could be an afternoon with connie about learning the five most important things every woman should know about nutrition and, you know, maybe it's just a fifty fifty dollars type of program on ninety seven or whatever you feel that the market bears and the market because whatever, so the desperation level is off the customer and then you can, you know, and so you do maybe one one after in a month, and you see if you can go in the community centers, you can go and ask senior, you don't know what to say, senior living homes, but, you know, communities that that maybe it's, not fifty I mean, whatever sort of that age range is, but because you are non threatening to a certain target group, as we've established, you know, where could you go in and speak about this? And then you can offer a program at the end of in the program could be you can get, you know, and you've seen how how we feel we've done this with with a business plan it's not very difficult to create something like that and say, well, and then you get your thirty day nutrition calendar from me, and this is whatever fifties costing your five dollars, even if it's five dollars to make and now you have an actual product that you can sell, so really think about putting these types of programs together to go out and start generating some cash and there's a lot of oh sorry about that going to say there's a number of women's clubs um like they're not official, you know brick and mortar clubs but their women's meetings all over the city of vancouver and typically there either business women or whatever I'm so looking to make inroads into those various those various groups and get invited to those meetings or be a presenter at those meetings and I've done a lot of that myself when it came to you know, to promoting my book so I offered to the chamber of commerce and certain organizations to be their speaker at their networking luncheon or networking hap happy hour and uh you know and then I go in and I present this and I bring you know, my ipad and my square and then I'll you know, have always a couple books with me and you know and you start having the conversation is selling it with a few things on the spot it's a good way to get the conversation going but you know, think think guerilla style methods and what can you do to generate cash right away? You said you were there's one save osen pole cape ron we're saying having a referral program when someone refers to a client to you either the referral gets a discount or vase says oh yes, the fastest way to my quote cash for sure is through referrals so referrals is absolutely huge and I think we're going to actually talk about this um so growth wanna one how is the business going to be making money I want you to set targets surprise by when do you have to hit what here is the business ma this is I love this this actually looks like something I would do do you think all of your ideas are equally good? No, they're not I mean some ideas are actually really terrible so part of this mind mapping and and in a doodling around is really important for your business I want you to constantly be part ofthe um you know, looking isn't working so so as we talk about growth strategies now we need to implement measurable results so I am going to generate with my I focus on cash initiative a thousand dollars five thousand dollars ten thousand dollars by what date and then you go for it because you've set yourself a target or you say I am going to sell fifty units by such and such date so growth strategy and this is the number one thing that every bank and every investor I will ask you for what's the plan for growth because they want to know how you gonna pay them back and how they're going to make the investment back so go out think about am I going to measure my results how do you measure your success is it by the number of people that are in your network? Is it by the number of people that are buying this product? Is it by the number of people that are signing up for something? Is it bye hitting a financial target but whatever it is set yourself goals measurable targets because that's the only way you know if you're if you're moving ahead at the speed because also important for you to learn how quickly your business can grow or not if you don't have the data going back and saying well, you know we've we've grown twenty five percent or fifty percent or hundred percent we doubled our income over the last three consecutive years so chances are we're going to double our income this year again if you don't have that knot those numbers you need to figure out those numbers in smaller increments I guarantee you that sami off your original ideas are not going to make it some of my original ideas did not make it and some ideas you think I'm not going to make it and they go the sort of that whole thing around and then you'll end up back at it but the time wasn't right for it so sometimes ideas are good but the timing is not right for your ideas let's see you do we have everything in there? Yeah so and we'll be talking to our guest very soon and oh, go ahead, brusco. Yeah, well, the morbid cafe says this course is making me think mohr and more that I should try to contact some big cool cos who would like inspiring artwork in their offices? That could be a great way to launch myself if I can fake it till I can make it. And then, uh the vigna whose a jewelry artist she has a question about a referral program. I guess this may be one of those, you know a good originally. Yes, but you know what let's take it in while it's while it's hot. Okay, great. Um when implementing a referral program are there referral program? How much should a discount be should the person get a discount for every person that buys? And then that person who referred gets a discount for everyone who buys or how what's the best practice was setting up a referral program. Great, great. All right, so then you just set so referral programs go like this. Um a referral program. It really can be anything that you wanted to be. So you go in and you say I am offering you a monetary incentive. The monetary incentive is either in the form off a gift card or a discount on a future product big big difference you always want to give a discount on a future purchase because otherwise you've just taken every reason away from them to buy so they just bought and now you've given some incentive to buy again if sam off the software programs we talked about the other missions automation software programs we talked about having affiliate or a joint venture component so I have an affiliate program for other people that want to sell my courses or help me build my business so they have but they have to sign up to be an affiliate and then they get a unique link you can also give people just uh a referral you can pay them out in money and it's usually a percentage off the sale some referral programs to twenty percent some referrals programs too you know especially in the internet marketing world where some of these costs are very, very low may even pay out as much as sixty percent which I probably would not recommend you to dio but you know twenty ten percent fifteen percent twenty percent is kind of a good referral fee and then you pay them out in cash. A lot of people now use the use paypal as you know, paying out there referral commissions another way to do referrals is the way I like it I don't you know I give him a value and I created the photo biz bucks so if you refer three people in my program then I'm going to send you a coupon that you can then use for future purchase. If you actually help me sell something, and I actually physically make money, I will pay you a commission makes sense. So I hope that what is a good commission? Ah, commissions. As I said, you know, somewhere between the ten and twenty percent of you gotta have to make it interesting for people, too, to sell. So, I mean, if you have a ten dollar product and someone's going to get a book, that's not going to be an incentive for anybody to help you. But if you have a five hundred dollar product and you pay a twenty dollars, twenty percent commission, somebody's going to make a hundred dollars there, pete there's a whole community out there that does nothing other than joint ventures. They they've built the communities, and all they do is sell other people's products, the whole community out. There's called click bank.